Collection
What the Gita says about love: not romance, but kindness, fairness and seeing yourself in others.
Chapter 12Verse 13
Sanskrit
अद्वेष्टा सर्वभूतानां मैत्रः करुण एव च। निर्ममो निरहङ्कारः समदुःखसुखः क्षमी॥
Reflection · not a literal translation
Meet every being with kindness, and every swing of fortune with the same steady heart.
A short portrait of a settled mind: goodwill toward others, humility, and roughly the same composure whether things are going well or badly.
Read more…Chapter 6Verse 32
Sanskrit
आत्मौपम्येन सर्वत्र समं पश्यति योऽर्जुन। सुखं वा यदि वा दुःखं स योगी परमो मतः॥
Reflection · not a literal translation
Feel someone else's pain and joy as if they were your own. That's the real measure.
The highest mark of practice here isn't a state you reach alone on a cushion. It's being able to feel someone else's pain and joy with the same weight as your own. When the line between your wellbeing and theirs gets thin, that's the sign something real has shifted.
Read more…Chapter 12Verse 15
Sanskrit
यस्मान्नोद्विजते लोको लोकान्नोद्विजते च यः। हर्षामर्षभयोद्वेगैर्मुक्तो यः स च मे प्रियः॥
Reflection · not a literal translation
Be someone the world doesn't unsettle, and who doesn't unsettle the world.
A quiet kind of strength: being someone who doesn't unsettle others, and who has enough steadiness not to be easily unsettled by them either.
Read more…Chapter 9Verse 26
Sanskrit
पत्रं पुष्पं फलं तोयं यो मे भक्त्या प्रयच्छति। तदहं भक्त्युपहृतमश्नामि प्रयतात्मनः॥
Reflection · not a literal translation
A small gift given with a whole heart is never small.
It's the sincerity of an offering, not its size, that gives it worth. A small gesture given wholeheartedly outweighs a grand one given carelessly.
Read more…Chapter 9Verse 29
Sanskrit
समोऽहं सर्वभूतेषु न मे द्वेष्योऽस्ति न प्रियः। ये भजन्ति तु मां भक्त्या मयि ते तेषु चाप्यहम्॥
Reflection · not a literal translation
Fairness and closeness aren't opposites. One can be the ground the other grows from.
A description of impartiality that doesn't rule out closeness. Fairness and genuine relationship aren't presented as opposites here. One is simply the ground that the other grows from.
Read more…Chapter 5Verse 18
Sanskrit
विद्याविनयसम्पन्ने ब्राह्मणे गवि हस्तिनि। शुनि चैव श्वपाके च पण्डिताः समदर्शिनः॥
Reflection · not a literal translation
The wise see the same light in every being, high or low.
Real wisdom sees the same worth in every being, whatever their status or form. It doesn't rank souls.
Read more…Chapter 6Verse 30
Sanskrit
यो मां पश्यति सर्वत्र सर्वं च मयि पश्यति। तस्याहं न प्रणश्यामि स च मे न प्रणश्यति॥
Reflection · not a literal translation
Once you see the same thread running through everything, nothing can fully cut you off.
A verse about a connection that doesn't depend on circumstances changing. Once you see the same thread running through everything, nothing can fully cut you off from it again.
Read more…Chapter 9Verse 22
Sanskrit
अनन्याश्चिन्तयन्तो मां ये जनाः पर्युपासते। तेषां नित्याभियुक्तानां योगक्षेमं वहाम्यहम्॥
Reflection · not a literal translation
What you truly need has a way of arriving when your focus is whole.
A verse about steady, wholehearted focus being met with support: the sense that what's genuinely needed tends to arrive.
Read more…The Gita isn't a book about romantic love, and it's worth saying that up front, since plenty of quotes shared as "Gita on love" aren't from it. What it does have is a lot to say about how to treat people, and about the love between a person and the divine.
The clearest relationship advice is in 12.13: hate no one, be friendly and compassionate, and be forgiving. In 6.32 Krishna says the highest yogi feels other people's pain and joy as their own. And on the devotional side, he describes a love that accepts the smallest offering, a leaf or a flower, given with a full heart (9.26).
Yes, though not romantic love. It talks about compassion and friendliness toward every being (12.13), feeling others' joy and pain as your own (6.32), and the love between a devotee and the divine (9.26, 9.29).
It doesn't give rules for relationships, but its picture of a good person works as a guide: someone who hates no one, who forgives, who doesn't unsettle the people around them and isn't easily unsettled by them (12.13, 12.15).
